iMportance of Sam Puckett
by NeoNails
Summary: Seddie. "Sam was pretty. Sam wasn't pretty in the traditional sense. She wasn't anything in the traditional sense. All he knew was he walked into school one day and- bam. There she was. But she wasn't Sam."


This is my first _iCarly _fic, but no where near my first piece of fanfiction. I feel a little embarrassed to be writing for this fandom, but I figure I'm better off getting this out of my system than stifling my inspiration.

Anyway, I hope I don't make the characters really OOC. This _is_ my first shot, so it might take me a while to nail down how I want the characters to best be represented.

Ah… who cares? It's not like any of you read what's up here. XP

**Note:** Does contain spoilers for "iMake Sam Girly." Just the basic plot summary.

$4$

_So over summer, something changed  
__I started reading _Seventeen_ and shaving my legs  
__And I studied Aveda religiously  
__And I walked right into school and caught you  
__Staring at me_

- "One of the Boys" by Katy Perry

(This song fits this episode amazingly well and I just noticed it… XD)

* * *

Sam was pretty.

That wasn't anything new, and Freddie knew that, the same way he knew what the _http_ stood for at the beginning of every webpage, or how to properly connect all of iCarly's various effects to play on the screen at just the right moment.

Sam was pretty.

She was pretty, just as Carly was pretty. But they were pretty in different ways. Carly was sweet, and gentle, with big, soft brown eyes and a perfect, heart-shaped mouth. When she smiled, you smiled back- you had to, she was just too _nice_ to not smile back.

Sam was not pretty in this sense. She wasn't pretty in the traditional sense, either. She wasn't _anything _in the traditional sense. She was tough, and badass, and as content ripping into a piece of bacon as she was ripping into Gibby. She was vicious _and_ loveable. Her fiery blue eyes matched her personality, and all of her curly blonde hair framed her confident, make-up-free face perfectly.

Sam was pretty.

And then it all changed. Something about her birthday party, her not being happy with her toasts- Freddie never got the full details, all he knew was he walked into school one day and- _bam_. There she was.

But she wasn't Sam.

He went along with it, because Carly was so proud of her, and Sam was so happy. He just did what he was supposed to, settling into the sidelines, watching with his arms crossed over his chest and a fake-interested smile plastered on his face, all the while thinking, _Who is this girl? Who the hell is this person that took over Sam and changed her?_

He didn't really listen as she gushed on to Carly, but this had something to do with Pete. She willingly became this new person, this _Samantha_, just for some guy like Pete.

Freddie had nothing against Pete, per se. He was a cool guy, if you could get past the fact that the guy was destined to be another pothead-surferdude once they got into high school. Freddie wasn't biased, he was just being realistic.

Maybe he was a little biased.

Freddie knew Carly was trying to make Sam girlier, but he never for one second believed she would succeed so… _well_. He never thought he could transform loud, abrasive Sam into this new Samantha with straightened hair and pink miniskirts and make up and heels…

Where did the real Sam go?

When this happened, when Carly was still in the planning stages, and she made him stand in as Sam's "crush," he wasn't surprised when Sam put the paper bag over his head. That was expected. That was classic Sam behavior. And it was classic Freddie behavior to take whatever she dished out at him, and do whatever Carly asked of him.

But something… changed when Carly told him she was trying to make Sam girly. Some not-classic Freddie emotions were welling up inside him, enough to make him forget his 'rightful' place as the tech-nerd and friend.

Then Carly left them, off to talk to her brother about his tux or something, and they were left, standing there in a tense and awkward silence. He didn't want to talk about it, but he felt the need to say something. To tell her the truth.

"No guy is worth changing for?"

There was a tense silence, and Freddie thought, for a nanosecond, that maybe she hadn't heard him.

"_What did you say_, Freddork?"

No such luck.

There was no point going back now, she had already heard him- "He's not worth it, if it means you have to change for him. You're perfect the way you are."

Now, while Freddie was sure he had no idea where the hell those thoughts came from, he knew they were 100-percent true. That was what he honestly believed.

If this was any other girl, on any other day, Freddie had the sneaking suspicion that, at very least, he would've gotten a hug for being a nice guy and telling the truth.

Within ten seconds, Sam had him on his stomach, on the floor, in some kind of complicated wrestling maneuver that had him crying uncle a lot faster than he was ready to admit.

That didn't mean her kicking his butt made him think this was any less true. He really meant what he said to her, and figured that Sam, the real Sam, would never go the extra mile for _some guy_ that would even matter to her in a month. She was too smart to do something that stupid.

At least, that was what he thought.

And then Samantha showed up, taunting him, flashing warm, lip-gloss-coated smiles and perfect outfits, maintaining nice-girl manners and doing her homework. Who the hell _was_ this girl?

Freddie didn't ask any of these questions, because he knew, deep down, he would hate this answer. She put all of her effort, stopped beating up nerds and jerks, stopped talking back to teachers, stopped eating like a guy and getting food everywhere… for _some guy_. Not just _some guy_, The Guy.

The Guy that she wanted. The Guy that was most important to her.

Pete.

How the hell could Pete be her Guy?

He wanted to ask Carly if she thought that Pete was a major nub, but every time he tried to work up the nerve to ask the question, he chickened out. Like a nub.

Because he already knew the answer. He just didn't want to hear someone say it out loud, confirm all of his worst fears and suspicions.

Samantha eventually snapped, and beat the stuffing out of this weight-lifting, steroid-pumping, senior-psycho, Freddie finally relaxed. He cheered along with Carly, finally happy to see the real Sam in action, kicking butt and terrorizing people three times her size. She was finally back. Sam was finally back to the way she was supposed to be, the girl he loved to see at her best.

Then Pete showed up.

That nub.

In that moment, Freddie resolved that he would forget all nerdy tendencies, push his nice-guy manners out window, if that nub broke her heart. He would deck the tool if he said anything about Sam being… well, anything negative. Freddie would punch the loser so hard he'd be in the hospital for months.

Well, maybe a day, at least.

But he didn't. No, Mr. Perfect-Pothead-Surferdude-Nub-Loser-Badass _liked_ the idea of having both Sam and Samantha. He _liked_ a girl who could be pretty _and_ beat someone up. And he _liked_ Sam _and_ Samantha.

What a nub.

If it was possible, Sam fell for him even harder. Freddie hadn't thought it was possible. Apparently, it was, if the way Carly sighed and giggled and the way Sam rushed to grab her bag and jacket were any indications.

What was it about this nub that Sam found so interesting? He wasn't even all that funny!

When Sam finally left for her dream date with her dream boyfriend in her dream getup, Freddie was left alone with Carly, finishing the rest of their dinner. A month ago, this would be heaven to Freddie, but now it was nothing special. It was like going out to eat with his mom.

"Why does she like him?"

Carly looked up at him sharply, and he realized he had said what he was thinking. And that was not the right thing to say in front of Sam's best friend.

"What are you talking about, Freddie?"

He wasn't sure. He liked Pete, but he didn't like Pete and Sam. He just… wanted things to go back to normal. Was that really so weird?

"Nothing, never mind." It took several minutes of poking and prodding, but Carly eventually dropped the subject, satisfied that whatever was on his mind wasn't that important.

It was important, possibly the most important thing he'd ever figured out on his own.

He knew why he stayed away from Carly and Sam for the rest of the week, other than at iCarly meetings. He knew why, whenever the subject of Pete was brought up, he stayed oddly silent. He knew why he did stupid things, like talk about the new stuff he learned to do with iCarly's html code, just to get her to yell at him and call him a nerd.

He knew why he did all of those things. He knew why he was being such a jerk.

He was jealous.

He was jealous of that loser. He was jealous because he was getting all of Sam's attention, and, whether he wanted to admit it or not, it killed him to see her care about some other guy as much as she did.

Just when he thought he would lose it, scream at the top of his lungs and tell her how much he cared about her, it was over. Just like that. She stopped talking about Pete, stopped caring about her date-filled schedule, stopped acting so love-struck and goofy and… not Sam.

Sam (_not_ Samantha) Puckett was finally back to normal, and Freddork (_not _Fredward) Benson wouldn't have it any other way.

$4$

I'm iffy on the ending, but it was the only way I could finish it without feeling like something was left out or unfinished.

I don't know. You tell me. :)


End file.
